General Assembly First Committee: Toward a Global Arms Trade Treaty

By Isabella Craig and Simone Phillips

Description of the Committee • General Assembly First Committee is one

of the leading committees of the General Assembly

• It is also know as the Disarmament and International Security Committee.

• It concentrates on world peace, security and disarmament.

• The DISEC focuses on developing principles and codes of conduct as well as negotiation forums to take care of international disarmament and security.

• They meet annually to discuss and resolve matters that concern nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, weapons of mass destruction, and reforms to the UN disarmament mechanisms.

Introduction

• The importance of conventional weapons and arms in violence, crime and drug-related issues in the world has been widely recognised by the international community.

• Conventional weapons refer to anything from battle tanks and warships to machine guns and fighter jets.• The decrease in regulation and the increase in existence of the arms trade have resulted in human rights violations

and civilian casualties.• The arms trade is a $45-60 billion industry.• There is more spending on arms than on social development and health infrastructure programs in developing

countries.• The global arms trade is one of the most corrupt divisions in the world and can cause poverty, war and other conflicts.• There have been efforts to regulate the arms trade since 1990 in order to avert the selling of arms to those who

violate human rights and in order to have more clarity in the transaction of arms.• The majority of efforts have been stopped because of countries, that, for political and economical reasons, do not

want to sign a treaty regulating the trade of arms.

Background • In 2006 the General Assembly came together

to discuss the possibility of drafting an arms trade treaty.

• Various countries gave their opinion on the matter and in 2007 the report was put in place.

• By 2008, governmental experts and other specialists constructed a report on the situation, presenting background information on the topic: trends in the international arms trade system and the potential result of the international community creating a legally binding code of conduct.

• Other recommendations to the General Assembly for debating this topic in the future were transparency, understanding motivations and preventing arms from being traded in illegal markets.

State Profits• The arms trade has always opened up

opportunities for business, thus making state profit be considered one of the biggest causes of the arms trade.

• The arms trade adds to country economies and is about 75% of developing countries’ incomes.

• Through 2003-2010, the United States sold $170.764 billion in weapons, Russia sold $81.059 billion and France sold $37.4 billion. Together those countries make up about 75% of the global arms sale in those years.

• The majority of the arms sales are going to developing countries in Asia and the Middle East.

• The large income from the arms trade is one of the causes of making negotiations on trade regulations difficult because countries see these regulations as limiting the profit from the arms trade.

Human Rights Violations

• The leading reason for the global arms trade is the violation of human rights. • Many countries squander money in this market rather than creating human rights

guarantors such as education and health systems, public infrastructure and access to justice

• It is common to sell arms to human rights violators in countries such as Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Libya is and Sudan.

• The main cause of armed violence is due to the countries that are prone to human rights violators which causes an increase of injustices and armed violence.

Militarization• The arms trade is a direct result of

countries needing to militarise their armed forces.

• Need for militarisation gives a strong base to the arms trade because within countries there is a need for conventional and non-conventional weapons.

• Propaganda also drives the arms trade because countries feel they need to militarise their armies in order to be protected and to have economical power.

• Arms companies also depend on the arms trade for their income, and governments of the countries where the arms companies are based depend on the income that the arms companies make.

Past Efforts At Regulating Global Arms Trade

• For the past several years, the world has been trying to control these situations by coming up with possible ways to regulate this activity.

• Resolution 61/89, “Towards an Arms Trade Treaty: Establishing Common International Standards for the Import, Export and Transfer of Conventional Arms.”

• One hundred and fifty three states supported the negotiations, proposed by the UK along with Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan and Kenya.

• Preparatory sessions began in 2010, and professional reports and examinations have been issued to examine the scope, feasibility and parameters for the possible implementation of this treaty.

Current Situation

• In current negotiations on regulating the arms trade, the main disagreement is on the contents of the treaty.

• Many organisations agree that the arms trade should make sure there are no human rights violations nor any violations of the UN Charter.

• They also believe that the treaty should ensure that no terrorist or religious attacks can take place and that no armed groups could somehow compromise the development and security of a nation.

• Additionally, a treaty should eliminate any common loopholes currently in the arms trade by regulating all trade.

Current Situation• The third preparatory meeting for the Global Arms Trade Treaty was held in July 2011. It was established

that countries like the United States, Russia and China do not wish to sign a treaty, as well as Saudi Arabia and India. Yet countries like Colombia welcome the creation of a Global Arms Trade Treaty.

• Some important points at the moment that still need to be discussed in the preliminary meetings are:– Unlawful transfer to non-state actors– International human rights and international humanitarian law– Social and economical development– Limits to sovereignty– Agreed-upon global criteria on imports and exports– Common international standards in transfer and security

• The main issue stopping a resolution to the issue is the variation in opinion of different nations; some countries belief the issue is extremely important, while others believe that there are more important issues to be dealt with first or smaller arms treaties that are still need to be agreed upon.

• However, most countries believe that regulating the arms trade will reduce the use of conventional weapons for civilian violence and human rights violations.

International Action• There is currently no formal treaty that fully sets guidelines for regulating the

international arms trade, but the international community has expressed interest in forming a treaty – especially Finland and the European Union.

• Some treaties are already in place, but some are not legally-binding and they don’t regulate the arms trade on an international level. These include:– UN Program of Action to Prevent (2001): Mostly about small arms trade, not legally-

binding.– The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons Treaty (CCW Treaty) (2001):

Banning and regulating of weapons, too flexible, countries can implement it however they want.

– United Nations Arms Registry (1991): Tries to further security by having countries register weapons.

• Reports have been written, suggesting ideas for the treaty on the regulation of international arms trade.

• In February 2012 and July 2012 the Arms Trade Treaty Preparatory Committee will be meeting in preparation for the UN meeting with all the member states.

Recommendations for Creating a Solution

• While producing a solution for a treaty for Global Arms Trade, it’s important to consider the political, social and economical reasons why a country may agree or disagree with the treaty.

• The negative and positive effects of the arms trade should also be taken into consideration, while trying to see if it is possible to have a balance between the two.

• Existing regulations and codes of conduct on the arms trade should also be considered.

• It is also important to work with countries in the same region and countries internationally to determine the long term effects of a treaty.

• It will also help if the former Preliminary Meetings and the points discussed in them are considered.